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New books, kids’ entertainment and chalk talk at heart of Formentera libraries’ February calendar

biblio ii 020 cartell 1Formentera’s culture department unveiled details today about the activities scheduled to enliven local libraries this February. One the star features —a book launch centred on Rebecca torna a Manderley— is set to take place at 8.00pm this Thursday 6 February in the Marià Villangómez library.

Toni Roca says his latest collection of poems is inspired in the universe of famed filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock. Born in Palma de Mallorca in 1944, the veteran poet has called Eivissa home since age 23, writing for an array of media outlets, contributing prologs, producing catalogues, emceeing various cultural events and founding the cultural initiative known as Anem al cine. Previous works include Les noies de Kansas City, Dóna’m la pau and La dona zebra. Publisher Ramón Mayol of Edicions Aïllades will oversee presenting duties at the event.

Kids’ activities
The family storytime “Contes per parlar amb la lluna” will once again take over Marià Villangómez library from 5.30pm on Tuesday 4 February. The Xènia Fuertes-coordinated event happens on the first Tuesday of the month and is intended to serve as a gathering point for families eager to get children under four excited about reading and storytelling. The goal is to use the magic of tale-telling to help infants discover the joy of reading.

From 5.00pm to 7.00pm on Wednesday 18 February, children aged 4 to 12 are invited to come craft Carnival masks at the Sant Ferran library connection (Punt de Lectura).

Book club
 At 8.00pm on Tuesday 25 February, “Llegeix i gaudeix” meets at Marià Villangómez library for the library book club’s monthly rendezvous. Participants speak about the week’s selection and exchange ideas. For more information visit the library during normal hours or send an email to biblioteca@conselldeformentera.cat.

Lecture
At 8.00pm on Thursday 27 February, Antonio José Viñarás y Domingo (Burgos, 1972) will unpack the autonomy of the Balearic Islands under the second Spanish republic, exploring the possibility of a statute of autonomy for Eivissa and Formentera. Viñarás holds a Ph.D in history from the University of the Balearic Islands, an undergraduate degree in law from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and a master’s in business management for consulting firms in protocol and communication from the Miguel Hernández University of Elche. Viñarás is a registered attorney and worked as team leader at the Spanish Institute of Statistics and head of protocol and public relations for the Sant Josep de sa Talaia town council on Eivissa. He has published multiple articles in periodicals, is co-author of Segona República a Eivissa i Formentera (2016) and author of Prensa y radio en la Ibiza de la Segunda República. He is currently a heritage and culture consultant for the Sant Josep town council.

Pine Islands Cooperation Fund’s mobile library
All February long, Marià Villangómez library will have the Pine Islands Cooperation Fund’s mobile library on loan. A yearly endeavour, the temporary display encompasses books, films and documentary (topics run the gamut from alternative economy; environment, energy and climate change); peace and violence/disarmament; gender equality; conscious consumption; food sovereignty; youth library).


4 February 2020
Department of Communication
Consell de Formentera

Formentera gets ready for “Baleàrics”, a travelling showcase of ten Mediterranean artists

photo-2020-02-03-19-02-48-1-Formentera’s culture department announces that this evening at 8.00pm, the island’s municipal gallery, the Sala d’Exposicions ‘Ajuntament Vell’, will pull the curtain back on Baleàrics, 10 Mediterranean artists.

With contributing artists hailing from Formentera, Eivissa, Mallorca, Menorca, Dénia and València, Baleàrics is testament to the fact that, technical and stylistic differences aside, the showcased work embodies a distinctly Mediterranean character. Each one of the Balearic Islands is represented, whether by Enric Riera of Formentera, Paca Florit of Menorca, Carles Guasch of Eivissa, or Mariano Mayol, Tomeu Canyelles, Miquel Planes and Joan Costa of Mallorca (Imma Mengual, Joan Castejón and Ramón Pérez Carrió appear on behalf the Valencian region).

A travelling exhibition, Baleàrics was borne of a collaborative agreement between the Baleària Foundation and the regional ministry of culture, and, on Formentera, it is hosted by the local office of culture. Department chief Susana Labrador said the local government’s support for the event was about “spreading the artistic values of the Mediterranean, and reminding islanders of our shared heritage, particularly those places with ties to the sea”. The show is open to the public 11.00am to 2.00pm and 6.00pm to 8.00pm, 3–15 February (Monday through Saturday; closed Sundays and Monday mornings).

3 February 2020
Department of Communication
Consell de Formentera

Marina Rossell tops lineup at Barnasants Formentera with concert this Saturday

foto 2020 barnasants 1Susana Labrador, Formentera’s vice-president and councillor of education and culture, stood in Palma’s Teatre Principal today to unveil the lineup of performing artists at this year’s jointly-organised —and two-time visitor to Formentera— Barnasants festival of independent songwriters. Labrador gave a press conference with Bel Búsquets, her opposite number on Mallorca, plus Teatre Principal boss Josep Ramón Cerdà, Barnasants director Pere Camps and the head of the Manacor city government’s culture division, Mateu Marcé, where all eyes were glued to the scheduled list of contributors—this year even on Menorca and Mallorca. Artists at the gathering included Quico Pi de la Serra, Tomeu Penya, Clara Fiol, Joan Muntaner “Xanguito” and Marcel Pic.

Susana Labrador pointed out the two very special Formentera concerts included on the Barnasants 2020 programme, along with another key component of the festival’s formula: promoting Formentera acts further afield. Labrador identified the success of last year’s Barnasants as the main driver behind the decision to go for it again in 2020. “We chose once again to partner with Barnasants in their promotion of independent music because it’s a way to connect islanders with cultural programming”. Labrador called the effort “particularly important with regard to younger generations and local artists, not to mention everything it does to make sure people in the other places Catalan is spoken have access to these cultural expressions”.

Topping the lineup is Marina Rossell, who performs to Formentera audiences at an 8.30pm show on Saturday 1 February in the Sala de Cultura. Cançons de resistència —“Songs of resistance”— showcases the sweet, unmistakable voice of new Catalan standards. Admission is free.

Rossell’s visit to the island is preceded by forty-plus years performing, more than twenty albums and a laundry list of awards and accolades earned by the artist. After blockbuster hits and homages to friend and object of admiration Georges Moustaki, Rossell revisits songs that shaped history, and does it as if singing about just one landscape, a single moment in time. She’ll sing songs-turned-hymns like “Bella Ciao”, the collaboration she cut with Manel that was later rocketed into stratosphere by an Italian group, or “Lili Marleen”, the mythical ballad that proved the gap between the German and Allied standards was all in our heads.

Attempting to squeeze Rossell’s career into the space of a few lines is a fool’s errand, but near endless tours of Europe, the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa surely merit mention. Among her many other distinctions, in 2017 she nabbed Barnasants’ own “Best Live Show” award.

7 March, Les Kol·lontai
On 7 March, Meritxell Gené, Ivette Nadal and Sílvia Comas, AKA Les Kol·lontai, will commemorate International Women’s Day (8 March) with a spread of feminist ballads. The free show starts at 8.30pm in the Sala de Cultura.

Cultural exchange
Formentera’s partnership with Barnasants means more than just programming concerts here on the island; it’s also about drumming up interest in Formentera acts away from local shores. In that spirit, having recently celebrating thirty years making music, hometown outfit Aires Formenterencs will present their latest effort before crowds at Barcelona’s Centre Artesà Tradicionàrius on Sunday 16 February. Then there’s Maria José Cardona. Barnasants 2019 saw her performing at the Harlem Jazz Club in Barcelona, and now the Formentera native is back for round-two, this time with a pair of recitals on Menorca: on Friday 6 March (Ciutadella) and Saturday the 7th (Maó).

Other acts on Mallorca and Menorca include Guiem Soldevila, who plays to the Manacor conservatory on Saturday 1 February, and Maria Jaume Martorell, performing in the Ciutadella bookshop Va de llibres on Friday 13 March.

Twenty-five this year, Barnasants’ independent music venture is unlike any other in Europe. The 2019 edition of the festival—when audiences saw duets from Roger Mas and Estel Solé alongside the pairing of Giorgio Conte and Joan Isaac—was the first where the Balearic Islands were represented.


27 January 2020
Department of Communication
Consell de Formentera

Something for everyone in L’Illa a Escena’s culture-forward pupu platter of music and theatre

foto 2020 LIlla a Escena 3Earlier today, the cultural arm of the Consell de Formentera unveiled the performing and musical arts filling out the L’Illa a Escena programme in early 2020. Culture chief Susana Labrador pointed out that, from 25 January to 25 April, “everyone from rug rats to old-timers will get their chance to bone up on culture, as Formentera welcomes eight productions on a spectrum stretching from the theatrical to the symphonic”.

Starting things off at 8.30pm on Saturday 25 January in the cinema is “Cantos de paz y guerra”, an evening of lyricism and choreography devised to bring the best of classical music from mainland Spain. The songs speak to a continent at war, girls and excitement, love and heartbreak. The era may have changed, but this journey across the decades takes us to a place that is still so real. Tickets for the 50-minute performance are priced at €7 for the general public and €5 for viewers under 18.

February
The programme picks up again at 8.30pm on 1 February with a performance in the cinema from Marina Rossell. Part of the Barnasants concert series, Cançons de resistència, or “Songs of resistance”, is living testament to the fact that one of Catalunya’s sweetest voices is far from finished, as Rossell executes a pivot that finds her focusing on songs of struggle. After blockbuster hits and homages to friend and object of admiration Georges Moustaki, Marina Rossell revisits songs that shaped history, and does it as if singing about just one landscape, a single moment in time. The show runs 90 minutes and admission is free.

The programme continues on 15 February with another 8.30pm production in the cinema. “Rostoll cremat” mixes the poetic direction of Oriol Broggi with social justice, irony, humour, truth and doubt in a new original text from Toni Gomila. The allegory of human ambition and greed in modern-day Mallorca is a co-production of Barcelona’s El Grec 2019, Palma’s Teatre Principal and Produccions de Ferro. Admission to the 110-minute show costs €7 for the general public (€5 for viewers under 18).

The programme returns a week later, as the fourth “Cantada pagesa” takes up in the cinema under this year’s banner, Across the generations. Backed by the Traditional Music section of Formentera’s School of Music and Dance, the 100-minute and free-to-attend celebration of traditional hometown song brings together fledgling singers and seasoned crooners.

March
In March the show goes on, commemorating International Women’s Day on the 7th with an 8.30pm performance in the cinema from “Les Kol·lontai”. Sílvia Comes, Meritxell Gené and Ivette Nadal are a collective of female singer-songwriters whose songs stand as feminist hymns to liberty and equality. Since 2017 they’ve performed in Catalan-speaking lands in promotion of their album Cançons Violeta. Admission at the 90-minute show is free.

In an early (6.00pm) show on 14 March, Clownómadas will treat cinema audiences to “Utopía” — the story of a clown who’s travelled the world for years in search of magic. The varied act includes live music, magic, juggling, illusion and —the performer’s innovative specialty— smoke charming. The family-friendly, all-ages production runs 50 minutes.

April
At 8.30pm on 4 April, cinema audiences will be treated to “La Zanja”. After nearly 20 years of on-stage experience, Theatre Titzina present an original work based on anthropological research and investigative journalism. Playwrights-directors-actors Pako Merino and Diego Lorca take a tragicomic look at the civilisational clash between Europe and America and reflect on the shared history of the two. The show runs 80 minutes and tickets cost €7 (€5 for viewers under 18).

L’Illa a Escena’s seasonal run in the cinema concludes on 25 April with another 6.00pm show, this time from Las Moskitas. “Ella balla” traces the true childhood story of choreographer-dancer Gillian Lyne, and the audience watches the lead as she overcomes difficulties (keeping still and quiet) to discover her true gift (dance). With a story that encourages young and old alike to listen to their heart, the show combines live music, movement and lyricism to create an on-stage ambiance that’s fresh and fun. This family-friendly production is for children aged 6 and up. Tickets for kids are priced at €5, and adults get in free.

Support for culture
L’Illa a Escena is made possible by Institut d’Estudis Baleàrics, and the Spanish Institute for the Performing and Musical Arts’s Platea programme in support of the performing arts.

17 January 2020
Department of Communication
Consell de Formentera

This weekend, Formentera welcomes thirteenth Festival of Children’s Entertainment

2019 mostra infantil 3Formentera’s office of culture reports that in the coming days islanders will be treated to the latest round of a 13-year-old tradition, the Mostra d’Espectacles Infantils, or “Festival of Children’s Entertainment”. With productions scheduled for Friday the 17th, Saturday the 18th and Monday the 20th, education and culture councillor Susana Labrador described it as “a wide-ranging slate of cultural programming for the island’s theatregoers in training”.

A story of personal triumph, Theatre Festuc’s Carretó de Contes unfolds from 6.00pm at Marià Villangómez library in Sant Francesc. The Lleida-based theatre troupe promises magic and fun for all those willing to climb aboard and set off on a journey to the land of dreams. With a mixed bag of touch, sight and sound, the local production titillates the senses of viewers (two and up) and admission is free.

Theatre Festuc is also behind the second show, Adéu Peter Pan, which takes shape at the Sala de Cultura the following day at 6.00pm. From the jump, the part-puppet part-human cast of this fun, sensitive production will win the hearts of audience members young and old. Adults get in free to this timeless tale for the whole family. Admission for kids is €5.

Adéu Peter Pan snagged the 2019 Fetén Award for Best Stage Design and the 21st Castile-León Theatre Fair’s award for Best Production. The show has also been celebrated with a 2019 Max Awards nomination for the performing arts, and was a finalist for the Xarxa Alcover Prize of the 2018 Igualada Children’s and Youth Theatre Fair.

On Monday 20 January, La Impaciència will present the 2019 Bòtil Award-winning La minyonia d’un infant orat. Penned by the Mallorca-born playwright Llorenç Riber, La minyonia d’un infant orat is more than something to see; it is an experience, and one that will have audience members feeling like kids again. The show won the Bòtil Award’s “The Balearics do theatre and literature” prize.

Theatre Festuc
In 2003, a natural inclination toward the arts and the desire to turn passion into a lifestyle pushed Íngrid Teixidó and Pere Pàmpols to form Festuc Teatre. Still today, “Theatre Festuc” embodies two overarching goals: that showgoers enjoy themselves, while reflecting on the values discussed in any given play.

La Impaciència
Borne of the union of Luca Bonadei, Rodo Gener and Salvador Oliva, the three theatrical veterans of “The Impatience” have earned many honours in the years since they began performing, and scored big hits with 2004’s Una nit vaig somiar que mon pare era Déu, 2006’s Radiografies, and 2009’s In-consciència.

Sa Xerxa
The Festival of Children’s Entertainment is organised by Sa Xerxa for children’s and youth theatre in the Balearic Islands, and by the Consell de Formentera.

The idea that culture is a fundamental right hasn’t just shaped Sa Xerxa’s 15-year professional trajectory, it is the driving force behind every activity they organise. It all started at the Children’s and Youth Theatre Fair of the Balearic Islands, or FIET. Drawing almost eighteen thousand theatre fans, both professionals and families alike, to its 2019 stage in Vilafranca, FIET has recently become one of the biggest theatre-related events in Spain.


14 January 2019
Department of Communication
Consell de Formentera

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Xarxa de Biblioteques

Institut d'Estudis Baleàrics

Enciclopèdia d'Eivissa i Formentera